PMQs: Doctor, Doctor I’ve Turned Into a Pair of Curtains

The title is the start of a very cringe worthy joke you would hear from a grandparent. The punchline, pull yourself together then, could be some thing that could be uttered to both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Prime Ministers Questions this week was always going to be dominated by the NHS reforms, which have become a polarised issue with Labour, Unions and several Royal Colleges calling for the bill to be dropped. The government however is throwing it’s full weight behind the health secretary’s plan.

If you want to learn about the plans, our very own Natalie Hodgson provides an excellent explanation of what is actually inside the bill.

The NHS has always been fertile ground for Labour, unlike many other public services, the funding of the NHS cannot be cut without serious fallout from the media and the public. Milliband’s line of questions focused on this issue and attempted to paint the picture that the ‘Tories’ could not be trusted with the NHS. Alas he was wrong footed by the prime minister.

If you looked only at PMQs you could easily declare today a victory for Milliband with Cameron placed in the awkward position of having to defend the future of the health secretary’s career. This is not a position a Prime Minister should find themselves, as if the government loses the fight over the health bill, Cameron will look extremely weak.

However the past 24 hours of political media coverage has not been focused on Andrew Lansley but on the release of Abu Qatada. It was a Labour backbencher rather than the Labour leader that pressed him on this issue. Cameron was able to answer strongly and immediately after PMQs the government announced that he had personally contacted the Jordanian king to negotiate over deportation. This has wiped Milliband off the news screens.

PMQs was very active this week but both leaders have inherent problems. Cameron will continue to be dogged by the health issue and Milliband still struggles to be heard and thus will still continue to stagnate in the polls. We will wait and see how these issues impact in subsequent PMQs.

Paul Brand, Catch21 Ambassador

“We know that young people have a view, but too often they don’t have a voice. Catch21′s work is vital in encouraging 18-24 year-olds to participate in the political debate so that British democracy really does mean rule by the people – all people.”

Catch21 on flickr

Catch21 believes in democracy. The problem as we see it is that for democracy to function properly, everyone needs to have the same level of information. However due to inability, apathy and inaccessibility this is not always the case. Our aim is to remedy these factors by providing the access and information to participate and by empowering young people to make them feel a part of their communities.